PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreia Candeias Mousinho, Diogo Duarte Campos, João Marques Mendes and Raquel Freitas, PLMJ
• Decree Law 140/99, on the conservation of wild birds and the conservation of natural habitats and wild flora; • Law 83/95, on environmental information and popular court actions (class actions); • Law 26/2016, on administrative and environmental information; • Decree Law 75/2015, on the single environmental licensing procedure; • Decree Law 30-A/2022 – exceptional rules aimed at ensuring the simplification of procedures for producing energy from renewable sources; • Decree Law 9/2007 – general noise regulation; and • Decree Law 169/2001, on the protection of cork oaks and holm oaks. The key regulatory bodies with authority in environ- mental matters are divided into two main categories. Government Bodies This includes the Ministry of the Environment and Energy. Other Public Bodies This includes: • the Portuguese Environmental Agency ( Agencia Portuguesa do Ambiente , or APA); • the Commissions for Regional Co-Ordination and Development, one for each region ( Comissões de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional , or CCDRs); • the Inspectorate General of Agriculture, the Sea, Environment and Land Planning ( Inspeção-Geral da Agricultura, do Mar, do Ambiente e do Ordena- mento do Território , or IGAMAOT); • the Portuguese Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests ( Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas , or ICNF); 2. Enforcement Authorities and Mechanisms 2.1 Regulatory Authorities • the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmos- phere ( Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera , or IPMA);
• the Climate Agency ( Agência para o Clima , or ApC) – this agency is not yet in operation; and • the Environment Fund ( Fundo Ambiental , or FA). 2.2 Co-Operation There is no specific co-operation mechanism con- cerning national key regulatory authorities in Portugal. The general administrative co-operation instruments provided for in the Code of Administrative Procedure (Decree Law 4/2015) are applicable. 3. Environmental Protections 3.1 Protection of Environmental Assets Environmental law is based on two basic principles: the principle of prevention and the principle of precau- tion. These legal principles are implemented through rules laid down by law, regulations or sectoral and territorial plans, designed to prevent the degradation of environmental components. Activities that may have a negative impact on the environment are prohibited or subject to an advance environmental impact assessment procedure, and in certain situations the provision of a financial guarantee is required. For such activities, permits or authorisa- tions are also required, setting limits on the perfor- mance of those activities and establishing monitoring and reporting obligations. The protection of the environment and the need to adapt activities to scientific developments and physi- cal changes in the environment led to the legal devel- opment of a mechanism typical of environmental law: the temporary and precarious nature of permits and licences. Thus, the law empowers licensing authori- ties to unilaterally amend the licences granted and even to revoke them. In such cases, when the licensee has made investments based on the assumption of a certain duration of the licence, the law recognises the right to compensation. 3.2 Breaching Protections Failure to comply with legal, regulatory or licensing provisions gives rise to sanctioning liability and may give rise to reparatory liability. See 4.5 Consequences of Breaching Permits/Approvals , 5.1 Key Types of
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